Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is based on the deconstruction of yesterday's monolithic applications and information technology infrastructure into a matrix of discrete, standards-based, network-accessible services. The process of transformation requires the organization, identification, and repurposing of applications and business processes of the existing information technology infrastructure. The transformation to SOA begins with an analysis of the IT infrastructure to identify applications, business processes, and other software assets that become services, or otherwise support the SOA.
A Service-Oriented Architecture implements the delivery of software services to clients over a network. SOA differentiates itself from other systems by these features: system resources are made available as loosely-coupled, independent services; services are made available through platform-independent and programming language-independent interfaces that are defined in a standardized way; and services are available both to clients and other services.